Woke teacher stages racially repugnant exercise

An elementary schoolteacher has established a new low by casting his 6th-grade pupils in a perverse skit to play out his "personal interpretation" of racial injustice in America.

Ethan Hooper, age 28, had parents in an uproar over separating children on the basis of their skin color in the classroom and then directing the white children to act subservient and to bow down to their black classmates.

The classroom lesson became the talk of the school when film footage of the event was uploaded on the social media site TikTok.  There wasn't any mistaking the teacher or the location: Howard Middle School in Orlando, Florida.

It didn't take long for many parents to recognize their own children in the unauthorized film footage and accuse Hooper of using their children as "political props."  Hooper was swiftly placed on an administrative leave of absence, according to a school source quoted by the Florida News outlet.

Hooper apparently wasn't shy about casting himself in the classroom exercise, which he proudly took ownership of, titling the lesson plan "POV: Point of View."

Hooper went far beyond instructing white pupils to bow and scrape before their black classmates.  (The black children were also fed snacks by the white pupils.)  Hooper, a self-identified supporter of "Critical Race Theory" (CRT — big surprise) took aim at Gov. Ron DeSantis's effort to prevent tax dollars from funding the highly controversial and racially charged curriculum.

Supporters of Gov. DeSantis would not miss the irony of Hooper's absurd and distorted attempt to discredit the proposed legislation, pointing to the necessity to better examine the outlandish material — including CRT — being taught in public schools.

Book-burning was the message Hooper conveyed to the children.  This narrative was played out by the teacher running around the classroom and dramatically snatching books from children's hands, saying: "I'm gonna start banning these books right away."  Harry Potter was among many of the books to become airborne — and ended up on the opposite side of the classroom.

The true nature of the proposed CRT legislation may never reach the ears of the adolescents.  Hooper would be loath to present anything but the woke version — rendering the actual content of the legislation irrelevant in his classroom.  This is a national "POV" from the majority of teachers in the public-school system.

Hooper may be more inclined to better understand the legislation now that his performance has been met with a flurry of complaints from both parents and taxpayers.  He would actually get a lesson as to why DeSantis finds CRT material "offensive to the taxpayer."  The governor claims that taxpayers "would be asked to fund teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other."

The other objection from the governor is shared by top historians who are concerned that students will be misguided in their understanding of American history.  "CRT ... analyzes and interprets American history and government primarily through the narrow prism of race," Gov. DeSantis said at a media conference.  "As such, it distorts, rather than illuminates, a proper and accurate understanding of our nation's history."  More importantly, "[i]t's also based on false history," DeSantis added.

Part of the sad fallout from Hooper's lesson plan is the vulnerability of the children who were supportive of their teacher's efforts.  And they defended him.  "We all agreed to it," one 6th-grader said who participated in the skit. "He didn't do anything wrong."

The sweet sentiment is that of a child who fails to realize that the teacher took advantage of the vulnerability of children.  They can't be expected to understand that the teacher was engaging in not a lesson plan, but rather a propaganda campaign that subjected the children to a humiliating exercise — whether they were bowing or on the receiving end of the bows.  (Some of the children were instructed to get on their knees.)

Now that he's on leave, Hooper has had the advantage of hindsight, claiming that the lesson plan was intended as something "in good fun."  He's apologized profusely for upsetting parents and the school administration.  "I am deeply apologetic toward the students and parents of those involved. ... I want to be an example to them."

Hooper does deserve credit for labeling the skit "POV: Point of View," which clearly sums up the intellectual integrity of the classroom exercise — and which proved to be worse than a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Image: Howard Middle School.

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